GE to Charles Lee Lewes, Grenoble, 21 May 1880
Title
GE to Charles Lee Lewes, Grenoble, 21 May 1880
Title
GE to Charles Lee Lewes, Grenoble, 21 May 1880
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Charles Lee Lewes
Date(s)
- 1880-05-21
Place
Grenoble
Letter Content
GE to Charles Lee Lewes, Grenoble, 21 May 1880
MS: Yale. Published: Paterson, pp. 221-223.
Grenoble May 21. 80.
Dearest Boy
Your letter, full of what I wanted to know, was greedily read during those greasy courses of potage and fish on our arrival here. For we have changed our route, and so had written for our letters to be sent hither from Avignon. This place is so magnificently situated, in a smiling valley with the Is'e8re flowing through it, and surrounded by grand and various lines of mountains, and we were so enraptured by our expedition yesterday to the Grande Chartreuse, that we congratulate ourselves greatly on our choice of route. Today 419 we shall take the two hours' journey to Chamb'e9ry, and from thence we intend to go through the Mont Cenis and by Turin to Milan, where I should like to hear from you again. Any interesting letters you might send to me. I was very glad to have Barbara's, and such things are quite worth extra postage. I think I told you that I had had a very sweet letter from Miss Simcox. I gathered from your having said that you would send or had sent a card to Mrs. Congreve that you had expected her to write to me at Avignon. But though our first thought this morning was to trot to the Poste there was nothing for me. We shall probably remain two or three days at Milan, and at any rate wherever we go we can order letters to be sent on from thence, so that anything might safely be sent there for me within the next week.
Mr. P. Bayne's 420 (kindly meant) invitation is quite incomprehensible. If you can see Mrs. Pattison I should like you to tell her that I have been wondering for nearly a year that I did not hear from her, and tell her also that I had a bad illness at Witley in the summer, for I think she did not know of that, and probably imagined me neglectful of her.
Mr. Druce and Willie Cross are attending to anything wanted in connexion with the Chelsea house which will be in the hands of the builder and decorator for a long while to come. I shall be most grateful if you will attend to the Priory for me -- hear any petitions from Mrs. Gibson, see to any rates or taxes (though I think these are all met for the present) and faire le triage of the correspondence. -- Mr. Benson 421 wrote to J. that Lady Holland wanted to know whether we would let the Witley house to her brother Mr. G. Trevelyan 422 during our absence, but J. is writing that our absence will be too short for that, and also that you and Gertrude will be going down. In any case I would not let it now that our servants are there. It was a satisfaction to me to know that G. and the children could go to Witley as early at least as the 22d or 23d of June, for I think it unlikely that we shall want to wander beyond the second week in July. We shall begin to long for home just when the rest of the London world are longing for travel. We are seeing nature in her happiest moment now -- the foliage on all the tremendous heights, the soft slopes and the richly clad valleys on the way to the Chartreuse, is all fresh and tender, shone through by a sunlight which cherishes and does not burn us. In July will come more and more dust, more and more monotony.
I had but one regret in seeing the sublime beauty of the Grande Chartreuse. It was, that the Pater had not seen it. I would still give up my own life willingly if he could have the happiness instead of me. But marriage has seemed to restore me to my old self. I was getting hard, and if I had decided differently I think I should have become very selfish. To feel daily the loveliness of a nature close to me, and to be grateful to it, is the fountain of tenderness and strength to endure.
Glorious weather always, and I am very well -- quite amazingly able to go through fatigue. I am curious about the [able State Paper,] and I too so far as my ignorance will carry me, conceive your possibilities in your present position as probably better than getting a private Secretaryship. Give [Grandmamma Cross's] love to Blanche and Maud and tell them she is in a country where there are mulberry trees all about, to feed the silkworms. I feel for poor Gertrude's abscesses in the mouth, having known something of that depressing misery. Perhaps a little dissipation in French plays may be more curative than Broadstairs. There is no knowing what will answer with our strangely compounded frames. Best love to her -- and to Florence when you can remember to give it.
Always thy loving
Mutter.
J. is deep in letter-writing in his own room, else I would ask him for a message.
MS: Yale. Published: Paterson, pp. 221-223.
Grenoble May 21. 80.
Dearest Boy
Your letter, full of what I wanted to know, was greedily read during those greasy courses of potage and fish on our arrival here. For we have changed our route, and so had written for our letters to be sent hither from Avignon. This place is so magnificently situated, in a smiling valley with the Is'e8re flowing through it, and surrounded by grand and various lines of mountains, and we were so enraptured by our expedition yesterday to the Grande Chartreuse, that we congratulate ourselves greatly on our choice of route. Today 419 we shall take the two hours' journey to Chamb'e9ry, and from thence we intend to go through the Mont Cenis and by Turin to Milan, where I should like to hear from you again. Any interesting letters you might send to me. I was very glad to have Barbara's, and such things are quite worth extra postage. I think I told you that I had had a very sweet letter from Miss Simcox. I gathered from your having said that you would send or had sent a card to Mrs. Congreve that you had expected her to write to me at Avignon. But though our first thought this morning was to trot to the Poste there was nothing for me. We shall probably remain two or three days at Milan, and at any rate wherever we go we can order letters to be sent on from thence, so that anything might safely be sent there for me within the next week.
Mr. P. Bayne's 420 (kindly meant) invitation is quite incomprehensible. If you can see Mrs. Pattison I should like you to tell her that I have been wondering for nearly a year that I did not hear from her, and tell her also that I had a bad illness at Witley in the summer, for I think she did not know of that, and probably imagined me neglectful of her.
Mr. Druce and Willie Cross are attending to anything wanted in connexion with the Chelsea house which will be in the hands of the builder and decorator for a long while to come. I shall be most grateful if you will attend to the Priory for me -- hear any petitions from Mrs. Gibson, see to any rates or taxes (though I think these are all met for the present) and faire le triage of the correspondence. -- Mr. Benson 421 wrote to J. that Lady Holland wanted to know whether we would let the Witley house to her brother Mr. G. Trevelyan 422 during our absence, but J. is writing that our absence will be too short for that, and also that you and Gertrude will be going down. In any case I would not let it now that our servants are there. It was a satisfaction to me to know that G. and the children could go to Witley as early at least as the 22d or 23d of June, for I think it unlikely that we shall want to wander beyond the second week in July. We shall begin to long for home just when the rest of the London world are longing for travel. We are seeing nature in her happiest moment now -- the foliage on all the tremendous heights, the soft slopes and the richly clad valleys on the way to the Chartreuse, is all fresh and tender, shone through by a sunlight which cherishes and does not burn us. In July will come more and more dust, more and more monotony.
I had but one regret in seeing the sublime beauty of the Grande Chartreuse. It was, that the Pater had not seen it. I would still give up my own life willingly if he could have the happiness instead of me. But marriage has seemed to restore me to my old self. I was getting hard, and if I had decided differently I think I should have become very selfish. To feel daily the loveliness of a nature close to me, and to be grateful to it, is the fountain of tenderness and strength to endure.
Glorious weather always, and I am very well -- quite amazingly able to go through fatigue. I am curious about the [able State Paper,] and I too so far as my ignorance will carry me, conceive your possibilities in your present position as probably better than getting a private Secretaryship. Give [Grandmamma Cross's] love to Blanche and Maud and tell them she is in a country where there are mulberry trees all about, to feed the silkworms. I feel for poor Gertrude's abscesses in the mouth, having known something of that depressing misery. Perhaps a little dissipation in French plays may be more curative than Broadstairs. There is no knowing what will answer with our strangely compounded frames. Best love to her -- and to Florence when you can remember to give it.
Always thy loving
Mutter.
J. is deep in letter-writing in his own room, else I would ask him for a message.
Signature
Mutter.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Charles Lee Lewes, Grenoble, 21 May 1880, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/92202